The winter battles of late 1944 and early 1945 finally demonstrated to the US Army’s high command that the M4 Sherman, though providing excellent service in previous years,
was wholly inadequate to confront German heavy armour and anti-tank
guns.

The final
production model, the T26E3, was given the name Pershing, in honour of
General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in
the First World War. The Pershing provided US tankers with a vehicle
that greatly improved on the M4 and was roughly comparable to the German
Panther.

This powerful addition to the US arsenal is now avaliable as the latest addition to the Flames Of War plastic miniatures range.

In this article, I'll demonstrate how to assemble the contents of the
new plastic M26 Pershing Platoon box set, so let's break out the hobby tools
and plastic cement and get started!
But before we begin any assembly, let's ensure the entire contents of the M26 Pershing Platoon box set are all present and correct. If you have
any problems or issues with the contents of your box set, please feel
free to contact our Customer Service team at: customerservice@battlefront.co.nz.

I'll begin construction of the M26 Pershing Platoon box set by demonstrating how to assemble the basic hull of the vehicle first; using the components that are common to both the M26 Pershing and the T26E4 Super Pershing.

The components required to assemble the basic hull of the Pershing
can be seen below highlighted in white on the sprues below. The components highlighted in red are optional.

Assembling The Basic Hull(or the hull of M26 Pershing)

Step 1. Begin assembly by joining the upper and lower hull sections.

Tip:Although regular Hobby Glue can be used to
assemble plastic vehicles, we recommend that you use good quality
plastic cement instead. It gives the strongest bond when gluing plastic
to plastic.

Below:The lower hull section (left) and upper hull section (right).

Below:Place a small amount of plastic glue to the tabs highlighted in the image below.

Below:Finally, bring the two hull sections together.

Step 2. Next, attach the hull rear plate to the back of the hull.

Below:The hull rear plate correctly attached to the hull.

Step 3. Attach the hull machine-gun to the front of the hull.

Tip:As this component is quite small, a pair of modelling tweezers may aid you in attaching the hull machine-gun to the desired location on the front of the hull.

Below:The hull machine-gun correctly attached to the front of the hull.

Step 4. Next, attach the tracks to the hull. The tracks can be seen in the image below; the right-hand side track (top) and the left-hand side track (bottom).

Below:Attach the left-hand side track to the hull.

Below:The left-hand side track correctly attached to the hull.

Tip:When referring to
left or right-hand side in regards to a Flames Of War miniature, the
orientation is determined as if looking at the vehicle from the rear.

Below:Attach the right-hand side track to the hull.

Below:The right-hand side track correctly attached to the hull.

Below:With the tracks in place, the basic hull of the Pershing is now assembled.

Note:This basic hull is also the correct hull used to represent the M26 Pershing in Flames Of War.

Adding The Optional Hull Components
The track fenders are an optional component that can be left off the
vehicle during the assembly process if you choose to do so. Pershing
crews would often remove these before going into action and the lack of
any fenders on your vehicles will add some modelling variety amoungst
your miniatures.

Below:The right-hand side track fender (top) and the left-hand side track fender (bottom).

Below:The orientation of the track fenders is determined by the slightly angled-end as seen in the example shown at the bottom of the image. This angled-end points towards the front of the vehicle.

Below:The track fenders attach to the underside of the lip between the upper hull section and the track itself.

Below:The left-hand side track fender correctly attached to the side of the hull.

Below:The right-hand side track fender correctly attached to the side of the hull.

Below:The basic hull complete with the optional track fenders.

Modelling The T26E4 Super Pershing Hull

The is only one difference between the
basic hull of the M26 Pershing that we've just finished assembling and the hull of
the T26E4 Super Pershing. This is the difference is the additional
armour plate attached to the glacis plate.

This additional armour plate can be seen highlighted in blue of the plastic Pershing sprue shown on the right.

Step 1. Follow the steps seen above to assemble the basic hull of the M26 Pershing.

Step 2. Next, place a tiny amount of glue in the recesses shown on the rear of the armour plate.

Below:These recesses are partnered up with the raised detail of the glacis plate shown in the example below.

Step 3. Attach the additional armour plate to the glacis plate of the hull.

Below:The additional armour plate of the T26E4 Super Pershing attached correctly to the front of the hull.

Assembling The Turrets

Now that we have assembled both hulls types for the M26 Pershing Platoon box set, its now time to move onto the turrets. Highlighted below are the components required to assemble the turrets; the M26 Pershing highlighted in red; the T26E4 Super Pershing highlighted in blue and the components common to both turret types highlighted in white.

A new addition to the M26 Pershing Platoon box set is the turret peg; see the image below.

The turret peg simply attaches into the recess located on the bottom of the turret and plugs directly into the hole located on the top of the hull.

Below:The hole in the top of the hull that accommodates the turret plug.

Using Rare Earth Magnets

The alternate method of attaching the turret to the hull is to use rare earth magents. To do this, simply glue a rare earth magnet into the recess
in the bottom of the turret rather than using the turret peg. Then glue another magnet into recess located on the top of the hull and you have a safe and
secure way of attaching the turret to the hull.